Author: Ohart

For documentary filmmakers, there’s no place like the Sundance Film Festival.

The mountainside festival which kicks off Thursday in Park City, Utah, has become known for launching nonfiction films to box office successes and awards, and this year is shaping up to be no different. The slate boasts a wide array of films about fallen titans, from Harvey Weinstein to Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes, music legends Miles Davis and David Crosby, two of Michael Jackson’s sexual abuse accusers, the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal, Apollo 11, Mike Wallace, Toni Morrison and Dr. Ruth.

In the past five years, three of the best documentary feature Oscar winners got their start at Sundance — “Icarus,””O.J.: Made in America” and”20 Feet from Stardom.” And most of this year’s Oscars shortlist premiered and won special honors at last year’s festival (like”Shirkers,””On Her Shoulders,””Of Fathers and Sons,””Dark Money,””Crime + Punishment” and”Hale County This Morning, This Evening”) and some are considered shoo-ins for a nomination, like”Three Identical Strangers,””RGB,””Minding the Gap” and”Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

“Sundance is the greatest launching pad,” said filmmaker Julia Reichert.”I can’t think of another festival that shows fiction and documentaries that puts as much honor, respect and spotlight on the documentary.”

The three-time Oscar nominee returns this year with”American Factory,” looking at what happened when a Chinese billionaire bought a closed General Motors factory outside of her hometown of Dayton, Ohio and created 2,000 manufacturing jobs in an area still suffering from the plant’s initial closure.

“Most documentary filmmakers aspire to get into Sundance. It’s such a fantastic festival with great potential for distribution and raising the profile of a film. But particularly for films about American politics, it’s really a natural choice,” said Rachel Lears, who directed”Knock Down the House.” It follows four women looking to upset incumbents in a Congressional primary, including first-term New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is expected to be at the festival.

The prolific documentarian Alex Gibney is also back with his latest,”The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley” which looks at the rise and fall of the multibillion dollar tech health care company Theranos and the psychology of its founder, Elizabeth Holmes.

“[Sundance has] always promoted docs and it’s always promoted them in a way that puts them on the same footing as scripted films,” Gibney said.

One of the most anticipated premieres is”Leaving Neverland,” a 233-minute film from BAFTA-winning director Dan Reed about two of Michael Jackson’s accusers. It will screen only once in Park City, on Jan. 25, before airing on HBO and British public broadcaster Channel 4 in two installments this spring. The Jackson estate has already denounced it as”just another rehash of dated and discredited allegations.” Jackson was acquitted of molestation charges in 2005.

For some, Sundance was an obvious choice because of the subject matter. That was the case for the Harvey Weinstein documentary,”Untouchable,” from director Ursula Macfarlane. Her film charts the disgraced mogul’s career from his early days as a music promotor in Buffalo, to the heyday of Miramax and up to his fall in October of 2017 with the torrent of sexual misconduct and rape allegations against him that spanned decades, some of which allegedly have occurred at the festival. Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.

It was a sprint to get it done in time for this year’s festival, however, having less than a year to do so.

“We always wanted it to be submitted to Sundance and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. … Halfway through the summer we thought no, we can’t, this isn’t going to work. And (producer) Simon (Chinn) came in and saw a rough cut and said let’s send it. It was all hands on deck. It’s been an intense few months,” Macfarlane said.”It’s the perfect place for a film about Harvey. It’s where he had a lot of successes and he changed it and the whole kind of vibe of the industry.”

For entirely different reasons, the team behind”Love, Antosha,” about the life of the late actor Anton Yelchin, also sought out a coveted Sundance spot.

“Anton had so many projects that went through Sundance. It was always a home away from home for him,” said director Garret Price.”For his last movie to be there, essentially, it all feels like the way it’s supposed to be. I think it’s where he would have wanted it.”

Yelchin died at age 27 in 2016 in a”freak accident,” when his Jeep rolled down his driveway and pinned him against a pillar and a security fence.

“I wanted to tell a coming-of-age story and a linear story through his eyes,” Price said, who will be doing interviews at the festival alongside Yelchin’s parents.”The challenge of a story like this is it ultimately ends in tragedy but I didn’t want to make a tragic story. I wanted to make an inspiring story.”

Whether a first-time director like Price or an Oscar-winner like Gibney, filmmakers are also energized by the moment documentary films are having in the culture, which is good for those looking for distribution deals. This past year a number of Sundance docs went on to gross more at the box office than some of the buzziest scripted films.”Won’t You Be My Neighbor” netted $22.8 million,”RBG” made $14 million and”Three Identical Strangers” grossed $12.3 million. Reichert thinks there’s a particular thirst for non-fiction because of the decline of in-depth reporting from local newspapers, and Gibney added that the quality has improved too.

“Docs have gotten better over the past 10-15 years. They’re just more engaging. … And we’ve been able to educate the audience and now they come to these stories not because it’s spinach but because it’s a full meal,” Gibney said.”You can get your spinach and have an ice cream sundae at the end.”
…

It was all a bit overwhelming for the latest opponent who could do nothing to slow Serena Williams at the Australian Open. So Dayana Yastremska, an 18-year-old from Ukraine, found herself wiping away tears as she walked to the net.

Williams knows what it’s like to be the one weeping after a loss. She put her right hand on Yastremska’s shoulder and consoled her by saying, “You’re so young. You did amazing. Don’t cry.” Then they embraced, and Williams patted Yastremska on the back.

“I could tell she was quite upset. I kind of liked that. It shows she wasn’t just there to play a good match — she was there to win. She wanted to win. That really broke my heart,” Williams said. “I think she’s a good talent. It’s good to see that attitude.”

Maybe she will be tested in the fourth round, because no one has come close to making her work too hard so far, including the 6-2, 6-1 victory on Saturday.

Next up, though, is a far more accomplished player, No. 1-ranked Simona Halep, who took control by reeling off six consecutive games in one stretch and advanced by beating Williams’ sister, Venus, 6-2, 6-3.

After two tough three-set tussles, Halep had a much easier time of things, making only 12 unforced errors while Venus had 33. Halep played with her left thigh taped, but moved around the court well.

“She played pretty flawless,” said Venus, who exits before the fourth round at a fifth consecutive Grand Slam tournament.

Looking ahead, Halep said: “It’s going to be a bigger challenge. I am ready to face it.”

She’s lost eight of her past nine matches against Serena.

Might Venus offer her sibling any tips?

“I don’t know if Serena needs my help or not,” Venus said. “If she does, I’ll be there.”

Not only has Serena won every set she played this week — and 20 in a row at Melbourne Park, dating to the start of her 2017 run to the title (she sat out last year’s tournament after having a baby) — but Williams has ceded a total of only nine games through three victories.

Unlike any of Serena’s foes until now, Halep has won a major title, last year’s French Open. She’s been to three other Grand Slam finals, including a year ago at the Australian Open.

That resume pales in comparison to Serena’s, of course.

Whose doesn’t?

She is bidding for an eighth trophy at the Australian Open and record-tying 24th Grand Slam title in all.

As for the prospect of playing the Williams sisters in back-to-back matches, Halep called it “the toughest draw I’ve ever had.”

“I just want to try to play my best tennis,” Halep said, “because I have nothing to lose.”

Other women’s fourth-rounders set up for Monday: Naomi Osaka, the woman who beat Serena in last year’s chaotic U.S. Open final, against No. 13 Anastasija Sevastova; 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys against No. 6 Elina Svitolina; and two-time major champion Garbine Muguruza against 2016 U.S. Open runner-up Karolina Pliskova, who beat No. 27 seed Camila Giorgi 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 on Saturday night.

Men’s matchups Monday with a quarterfinal berth at stake will be: No. 1 Novak Djokovic against No. 15 Daniil Medvedev; No. 4 Alexander Zverev against 2016 Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic; 2014 U.S. Open finalist Kei Nishikori against No. 23 Pablo Carreno-Busta; and No. 11 Borna Coric against No. 28 Lucas Pouille, who eliminated 19-year-old Australian wild-card entry Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-7 (10), 4-6, 6-3.

Serena complimented Yastremska in the locker room after their match.

“She said, like, ‘You’re young, you’re very good and you will be a good player in the future.’ It’s nice to hear those words from a legend,” said the 57th-ranked Yastremska, who eliminated 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur in the first round and 23rd-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro in the second.

“If she thinks so,” Yastremska added about Williams, “then maybe that’s true.”

Williams grabbed a pair of service breaks and a 4-0 lead after less than 15 minutes and was well on her way to yet another easy-looking win.

Right from the start, Yastremska appeared a bit jittery, missing 9 of 10 first serves and double-faulting three times while getting broken in each of her opening two service games. By the end of the first set, the teenager had 13 unforced errors, nine more than Serena.

It didn’t get much better in the second set, and Serena wound up with eight aces while facing zero break points, and a 20-13 ratio of winners to unforced errors.

Yastremska was born in 2000, the year after Serena won her initial major, and grew up cheering for someone she calls “a legend.” Yastremska recalls swinging her racket in the living room at home while watching on TV at age 8 as her favorite player competed.

Surely, everything felt a tad different up-close-and-personal with the 37-year-old American in Rod Laver Arena.

What separates Williams from other top players?

“Everything. Small details. Her discipline. Her quality of the shots. How (committed) she is to every ball,” Yastremska said. “She (is) completely different. I don’t know how to describe that. It’s just there’s something special. What I’m trying to do is to go to the level that people are going to talk about me the same, that I have something special.”
…

Actor Anthony Rapp said he came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Kevin Spacey because he feared assaults could “keep happening” if he said nothing.

The younger actor spoke about the incident Thursday in New York on the red carpet for the second season of his streaming series, Star Trek: Discovery. He said he hoped he did his part to “change the culture.”

In 2017, Rapp alleged that Spacey made an unwanted sexual advance during a house party in 1986 when he was 14 and Spacey was 26. Rapp sought legal counsel at the time, but no charges were filed.

The incident was dormant until a flurry of sexual misconduct allegations surfaced about Harvey Weinstein, prompting Rapp to come forward. Spacey responded that he did not remember such an encounter but apologized if the allegations were true.

More than year later, Rapp is proud of the decision to tell his story. “I know that it’s something that needs continued movement forward and I’m going to keep doing my best to be a part of the movement forward,” Rapp said.

“I was just concerned that that it would be something that could keep happening, so if I could do something that could make a difference, I was eager to.”

His Star Trek: Discovery co-star Wilson Cruz said Rapp was being humble.

“What he did was incredibly brave, and he really allowed countless men to be able to tell their stories. You know, for the most part we were hearing stories about women and those are important stories to tell,” Cruz said. “But there’s a lot of stigma around abused men, sexually abused men and sexual harassment of men, and it was going to take a brave person to be able to start that conversation.”

More than a dozen accusers came forward after Rapp’s allegations, causing Spacey to lose his starring role on the Netflix series House of Cards.

Earlier this month, Spacey was arraigned on felony indecent assault and battery charges after a Massachusetts man alleged that he was assaulted inside a Nantucket bar in July 2016. He was 18 years old at the time.
…

For decades, Jackie Shane was a musical mystery: a riveting black transgender soul singer who packed out nightclubs in Toronto in the 1960s, but then disappeared after 1971. 

Some speculated she had died, but her legacy lived on among music historians and R&B collectors who paid big money for her vinyl records. But in 2010, the Canadian Broadcasting Company produced an audio documentary about her, awakening a wider interest in the pioneering singer. Today her face is painted on a massive 20-story musical mural in Toronto with other influential musicians like Muddy Waters.

In 2014, Doug Mcgowan, an A&R scout for archival record label Numero Group, finally reached her via phone in Nashville, Tennessee, where she was born in 1940. After much effort, Mcgowan got her agree to work with them on a remarkable two-CD set of her live and studio recordings that was released in 2017 called “Any Other Way,” which has been nominated for best historical album at this year’s Grammy Awards. 

A very private life

Shane, now 78, has lived a very private life since she stopped performing. In fact, no one involved in the album has yet to meet her in person as she only agrees to talk on the phone. But she realized after the CBC documentary that she could no longer hide. News outlets began calling and her photos started appearing in newspapers and magazines after the release of the album. RuPaul and Laverne Cox have tweeted stories about Shane. 

“I had been discovered,” Shane told The Associated Press in a recent phone interview. “It wasn’t what I wanted, but I felt good about it. After such a long time, people still cared. And now those people who are just discovering me, it’s just overwhelming.”

Grammy-winning music journalist Rob Bowman spent dozens of hours on the phone with Shane interviewing her for the liner notes in the album. Her story, Bowman says, is so remarkable that even Hollywood couldn’t dream it up. 

Born in the Jim Crow era and raised during the heyday of Nashville’s small but influential R&B scene, Shane was confident in herself and musically inclined since she was a child. She learned how to sing in Southern churches and gospel groups, but she learned about right and wrong from watching a con artist posing as a minister selling healing waters to the faithful.

Mother offers early support

From an early age, she knew who she was and never tried to hide it.

“I started dressing (as a female) when I was five,” Shane said. “And they wondered how I could keep the high heels on with my feet so much smaller than the shoe. I would press forward and would, just like Mae West, throw myself from side to side. What I am simply saying is I could be no one else.”

By the time she was 13, she considered herself a woman in a man’s body and her mother unconditionally supported her.

“Even in school, I never had any problems,” Shane said. “People have accepted me.”

She played drums and became a regular session player for Nashville R&B and gospel record labels and went out on tour with artists like Jackie Wilson. She’s known Little Richard since she was a teenager and later in the `60s met Jimi Hendrix, who spent time gigging on Nashville’s Jefferson Street. 

To this day, Shane playfully scoffs at Little Richard’s antics and knows more than a few wild stories about him. “I grew up with Little Richard. Richard is crazy, don’t even go there,” Shane said with a laugh. 

But soon the South’s Jim Crow laws became too harsh for her to live with. 

“I can come into your home. I can clean your house. I can raise your children. Cook your food. Take care of you,” Shane said. “But I can’t sit beside you in a public place? Something is wrong here.”

Headed north

One day in Nashville she had been playing with acclaimed soul singer Joe Tex when he encouraged her to leave the South and pursue her musical career elsewhere. 

She began playing gigs in Boston, Montreal and eventually Toronto, which despite being a majority white city at the time still had a budding R&B musical scene, according to Bowman. She performed with Frank Motley, who was known for playing two trumpets at once. 

“Jackie was a revelation,” Bowman said. “Quite quickly the black audience in Toronto embraced her. Within a couple of years, Jackie’s audiences were 50-50 white and black.”

Bowman said that in the early `60s, the term transgender wasn’t widely known at all and being anything but straight was often feared by people. Most audiences perceived Shane as a gay male, Bowman said. In the pictures included in the album’s liner notes, her onstage outfits were often very feminine pantsuits and her face is adorned with cat eyes and dramatic eyebrows. 

‘I’m the show’

For Shane, her look onstage was as important as the music.

“I would travel with about 20 trunks,” Shane said. “Show business is glamour. When you walk out there, people should say, `Whoa! I like that!’ When I walk out onstage, I’m the show.”

She put out singles and a live album, covering songs like “Money (That’s What I Want),” “You Are My Sunshine,” and “Any Other Way,” which was regionally popular in Boston and Toronto in 1963. Her live songs are populated with extended monologues in which Shane takes on the role of a preacher, sermonizing on her life, sexual politics and much more. 

“I humble myself before my audience,” Shane explained. “I am going to sing to you and talk to you and do all the things I can so when you leave here, you’ll be back here again.”

She was beloved in Toronto and still considers it her home.

“You cannot choose where you are born, but you can choose where you call home,” Shane said. “And Toronto is my home.”

But her connection to her mother was so strong that ultimately it led Shane to leave show business in 1971. Her mother’s husband died and Shane didn’t want to leave her mother living alone. But she also felt a bit exhausted by the pace. 

“I needed to step back from it,” Shane said. “Every night, two or three shows and concerts. I just felt I needed a break from it.”

Return to stage?

Since the release of “Any Other Way,” Shane often gets the question about whether she would ever perform again now that so many more people are discovering her music. 

“I don’t know,” Shane said. “Because it takes a lot out of you. I give all I can. You are really worn out when you walk off that stage.”

She wavered on an answer, saying she’s thinking about it. Her record’s nomination in the best historical album category only go to producers and engineers, not the artists, so Shane is not nominated herself. But Mcgowan, who is nominated as a producer, said he has invited her to come with him to the ceremony in Los Angeles on Feb. 10 as his guest. 

“It’s like my grandmamma would say, `Good things come to those who wait,”’ Shane said. “All of the sudden it’s like people are saying, `Thank you, Jackie, for being out there and speaking when no one else did.’ No matter whether I initiated it or not, and I did not, this was the way that fate wanted it to be.”

 

         
…

 A stranger’s comment on one’s growing stomach may not always be welcome but a pregnant Meghan, Britain’s Duchess of Sussex, took it all in her stride on Wednesday when a pensioner called her “a fat lady.”

Prince Harry’s wife, who told well-wishers this week she is six months pregnant, laughed off the remark, meant as a compliment about her growing baby bump.

On a visit to animal welfare charity Mayhew, of which she is patron, Meghan was being introduced to pensioners who have benefited from the organization’s animal therapy program when an elderly woman named Peggy took a more casual approach to speaking to a member of the royal family.

“Lovely lady, you are, may the good Lord always bless you,” Peggy told the duchess. “And you’re a fat lady,” she added, smiling and looking at Meghan’s tummy.

“I’ll take it,” Meghan replied, laughing along with others.

Meghan said last week she would become patron of Mayhew and three organizations dedicated to causes close to her. On her first visit to the charity as patron, she met beneficiaries, staff and several dogs, some of which she held in her arms.

The 37-year-old also planned to attend the premiere of Cirque du Soleil’s “Totem” show on Wednesday evening, an event aimed at raising awareness and funds for Harry’s Sentebale charity.
…

The breakthrough representation of minorities in Hollywood blockbusters has ignited a frequently overlooked discussion about whether prejudice isn’t just about the color of a person’s skin, but the shade.

“Colorism,” the idea that light-skinned minorities are given more privilege than their darker-skinned peers, is a centuries-old concept that many insiders say remains pervasive in the entertainment industry. The instant reckoning of social media has brought prominence to the issue and on Tuesday the ABC sitcom “black-ish,” known for not shying from heavier topics, confronted it.

 

In the episode “Black Like Us,” parents Dre and Bow (played by Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross) are appalled when they see that daughter Diane (Marsai Martin) appears darker in her poorly lit classroom photo. Their outrage sparks a tense conversation within the family.

 

“We felt that this was the year to just put it on our shoulders and see what we can do and hope at the very least we can get people to talk about it openly,” said co-showrunner Kenny Smith.

 

Executive producer Peter Saji wrote the episode. A light-skinned, mixed-race man, Saji drew from his own experiences as well as research.

 

“There is a light-skinned privilege that I never really wanted to admit I felt or experienced. I sort of grew up ‘Oh, we’re all black. We all experience the same struggle,'” he said.

 

More often when movies and television shows ignite conversations about colorism, it’s unintentional.

 

In 2016, a furor erupted over a trailer showing actress Zoe Saldana portraying singer and activist Nina Simone. Saldana’s skin was darkened and she wore a prosthetic nose.

 

When images from “Ralph Breaks the Internet” came out last year, it appeared Princess Tiana, Disney’s first black princess, had a lighter complexion and sharper features. Anika Noni Rose, who voices Tiana, met with animators and spoke about how important it was that dark-skinned girls see themselves represented. The studio also consulted the civil rights group Color of Change.

 

“They had to spend some real money to actually fix this. They recognized the problem, they listened and they worked to change it,” said Color of Change executive director Rashad Robinson.

 

The issue isn’t unique to black people. In India’s Bollywood film industry, the starring roles tend to go to lighter-skinned actors, many of whom endorse products promoting fairer skin.

 

The movie “Crazy Rich Asians” left some Asian-Americans disappointed by a lack of brown or dark-skinned actors.

 

Meanwhile, “Roma” director Alfonso Cuaron received praise for casting Yalitza Aparicio in the lead role of an indigenous maid. The character is more at the forefront than her lighter-skinned Mexican employer.

 

For African-Americans, bias toward lighter-skinned people dates back to slavery. Skin complexion sometimes determined what type of jobs slaves were assigned or if, post-slavery, they were worthy of receiving an education. In later decades, universities, fraternities and other institutions were known for using the “brown paper bag” test: Those with skin lighter than the bag were in.

 

“It’s part of white supremacy, or holding up whiteness over other backgrounds,” Robinson said. “It has deep implications, historical implications in the black community from beauty standards to professional opportunities to how families have treated one another.”

 

The problem also exists within the music industry. Mathew Knowles, who managed daughters Beyonce and Solange and Destiny’s Child, said it’s no accident that most of the recent top-selling black artists are lighter-skinned like Mariah Carey and Rihanna. He said Beyonce often got opportunities that darker-skinned artists probably wouldn’t.

 

“There’s another 400 that are of a darker complexion… that didn’t get a chance at Top 40 radio,” Knowles said. “They got pigeonholed that they were black and in the ‘black division,’ and they got pigeonholed in just R&B, black radio stations.”

 

Knowles, himself darker skinned, said his own mother instilled in him that darker skinned women were less desirable. It’s a perception that he thinks is starting to shift.

 

“We have to have social courage to speak up about this stuff and stop being quiet about it,” Knowles said. “The only way we change is to be uncomfortable and truthful about our feelings and beliefs.”

 

That is a strategy that “black-ish” co-showrunner Smith also agrees with.

 

“With anything it’s always best to have a truthful conversation,” Smith said.

 
…

A year ago, Venezuelan migrant Reymar Perdomo was singing for spare change on jammed buses, struggling to make ends meet while building a new life in Peru’s capital.

But her life took a turn when she wrote a heartfelt reggae song about leaving her homeland that went viral on the internet and has brought tears to hundreds in the Venezuelan diaspora that has spread around the globe. Now Perdomo combines her street performances with appearances at concerts and on TV programs, and her song has become the unofficial anthem of Venezuelans who have fled their country’s economic implosion.

“This song gives me goosebumps” said Junior Barrios, a Venezuelan migrant who listened to Perdomo perform her song “Me Fui” — Spanish for “I Left” — recently at a busy plaza in Lima. “Leaving your home from one day to the next day isn’t easy, and this just makes a whole bunch of emotions surface at once.”

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 3 million Venezuelans have left their country since 2015 as food shortages and hyperinflation became rampant in what was once a wealthy oil-exporting nation. By the end of 2019 that number is expected to grow to at least 5.4 million.

“Me Fui” is Perdomo’s retelling of how she left Venezuela reluctantly with her “head full of doubts,” pushed by her mother, who insisted there was no other way for her to make something of her life.

The song, which the 30-year-old plays with a ukulele after her similar-sounding Venezuelan “cuatro” broke while busking, talks about how she was robbed and faced other hardships as she had to cross four countries to reach Peru, pressing on while “speaking softly and crying along much of the way.”

“I had lots of mixed feelings about having to leave Venezuela, and felt a lot of pain. And I just needed to express that in order to move on with life,” Perdomo said in an interview after performing on the streets of Lima’s wealthy Miraflores district.

Her nostalgic song has had more than 2 million views on YouTube thanks to a passer-by who recorded Perdomo singing and posted the video online. It’s also gotten a wave of attention on radio and television, helping Perdomo get noticed by famous pop artists around South America who have asked her to be the opening act at their concerts. She has also produced a slicker version that has had 1.2 million views on its own.

In December, Perdomo was invited to Colombia by a popular satirist and Youtuber who had her sing on a bus, surprising her by bringing along Latin Grammy winner Carlos Vives and Andres Cepeda.

Perdomo said she almost fainted as Vives, who was wearing a hat and fake moustache, threw his disguise away and started to sing the chorus of her song.

“That happened exactly a year to the date after I left Venezuela” Perdomo said. “And for me to be there, performing with one of my favorite singers, singing my song, just felt like proof that God exists.”

Perdomo, who used to be a music teacher at a public school in the rural state of Guarico and once participated in a televised talent show. Although she says she never voted for Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, as a public employee she was required to sing at pro-government rallies, something a few online critics have held against her.

Though becoming something of a symbol of the Venezuelan exodus, she still struggles to get by.

Her mother, brother, sister-in-law and year-old nephew have joined her in Peru and all share a small rented apartment in one of the city’s working class districts. Only Perdomo’s brother has found a permanent job, working as a bouncer at a nightclub, so the street performer works long days to help sustain her family.

Still, social media fame is opening new doors.

Perdomo says that Vives has invited her to perform on a regular basis at his nightclub in Bogota and that she is speaking with organizations in Colombia about the possibility of recording an album focused on the plight of migrants.

These opportunities have her thinking about moving yet again — this time to Colombia’s capital.

“This has been a tough year, but it also been amazing” Perdomo said. “I think that to help people and do what you love, you don’t need a lot of money. You just need to believe in yourself and be willing to work real hard.”
…

A Gillette ad for men invoking the #MeToo movement is sparking intense online backlash, with accusations that it talks down to men and groups calling for a boycott. But Gillette says it doesn’t mind sparking a discussion. Since it debuted Monday, the Internet-only ad has garnered nearly 19 million views on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter — a level of buzz that any brand would covet.

The two-minute ad from Procter & Gamble’s razor brand shows men and boys engaging in bullying and sexual harassment and encourages men to “say the right thing” and “act the right way.” Taking on bullying, sexual harassment and toxic masculinity is a big task for a razor brand. Many critics took to social media saying it was insulting to men and laden with stereotypes.

The uproar comes as Gillette battles upstarts like Harrys Razors, Dollar Shave Club, and others for millennial dollars. Gillette controlled about 70 percent of the U.S. market a decade ago. Last year, its market share dropped to below 50 percent, according to Euromonitor.

Allen Adamson, co-founder of branding firm Metaforce, called the ad a “hail Mary” pass from the 117-year-old company. But he added that online buzz, whether positive or negative, rarely makes a long-term difference for a marketer since memory fades quickly.

“Getting noticed and getting buzz is no easy task, and they’ve managed to break through,” Adamson said. “Most advertisers advertise, and no one notices because there is so much noise in the marketplace, so just getting noticed Is a big win, especially for low-interest category like a razor.”

On the flip side, it probably won’t sell many razors either, he said.

Advertisers and social issues

Gillette’s ad echoes other attempts by major advertisers to take on social issues. Pepsi pulled an ad in 2017 showing Kendall Jenner giving a cop a Pepsi during a protest and apologized after an outcry that it trivialized “Black Lives Matter” and other protest movements. Nike polarized the nation with an ad featuring ex-NFL player Colin Kaepernick who started a wave of protests among NFL players of police brutality, racial inequality and other social issues.

Sales weren’t affected in either of those cases. When controversy does affect sales, it is usually over something more substantive than an ad. Lululemon saw sales tumble in 2013 after a string of PR disasters including manufacturing problems that caused their pricey yoga pants to become see through and fat-shaming comments from their founder. But even that was short lived.

Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5WPR, said that much like Nike’s Kaepernick ad, Gillette likely knew the ad would garner online debate.

“Nike knew what they were getting themselves into,” Torossian said. The ad with Kapernick was “making a lot of noise, and it can’t be a surprise to [Gillette] that this is making a lot of noise.”

Gillette response

P&G, one of the world’s largest advertisers, is known for its anthemic spots that appeal to emotions during the Olympics and other events, often aimed at women, such as the tear-jerking “Thank You Mom” Olympics branding campaign and Always “Like a Girl” 2014 Super Bowl ad.

Pankaj Bhalla, North America brand director on Gillette, says the controversy was not the intended goal of the ad, which is part of a larger campaign that takes a look at redefining Gillette’s longtime tagline “The Best a Man Can Get,” in different ways. Another online ad features one-handed NFL rookie Shaquem Griffin.

While he doesn’t want to lose sales or a boycott over the ad, “we would not discourage conversation or discussion because of that,” he said.

“Our ultimate aim is to groom the next generation of men, and if any of this helps even in a little way we’ll consider that a success,” he said.

Larry Chiagouris, marketing professor at Pace University, is skeptical.

“Treating people with respect, who can argue with that, but they’re kind of late to the party here, that’s the biggest problem,” he said. “It’s gratuitous and self-serving.”
…

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival has got satisfaction: The Rolling Stones are among the headliners for the 50th anniversary festival.

Organizers Tuesday confirmed reports that Mick Jagger and his band will play.

Also headlining are Katy Perry, the Dave Matthews Band, Al Green, Pitbull, Santana, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aaron Neville and gospel great Shirley Caesar.

Producer Quint Davis says this year’s festival will include at least 20 tributes honoring artists who helped shape the city’s musical landscape. These include performances dedicated to Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino, Mahalia Jackson, Allen Toussaint, Pete Fountain and Al Hirt.

Tickets go on sale Friday, with a pre-sale Thursday, for Louisiana residents only, to buy tickets for the Rolling Stones date — Thursday, May 2.

The festival runs April 25-28 and May 2-5.

 
…

The upcoming Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is moving its publication date, pushing it from the chill of February to warmer May, closer to bikini-weather.

 

Editor of the issue MJ Day tells The Associated Press the shift makes more sense for greater impact. She says that “It’s always hard to think about buying a swimsuit when its 18 degrees out.”

 

Day says May is the time when many readers start to think about beaches and pools. The switch also unlocks other warmer locations in the world for the models and photographers.

 

There was no special reason the month of February was initially chosen 55 years ago for the swimsuit edition. Back then, it was picked to liven up a slow sports winter month.

 

 
…

An art exhibit in Israel featuring a crucified Ronald McDonald has sparked protests by the country’s Arab Christian minority.

Hundreds of Christians calling for the removal of the sculpture, entitled “McJesus,” demonstrated at the museum in the northern city of Haifa last week. Israeli police say rioters hurled a firebomb at the museum and threw stones that wounded three police officers. Authorities dispersed the crowds with tear gas and stun grenades.

Church representatives brought their grievances to the district court Monday, demanding it order the removal of the exhibit’s most offensive items, including Barbie doll renditions of a bloodied Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

Museum director Nissim Tal said that he was shocked at the sudden uproar, especially because the exhibit — intended to criticize what many view as society’s cult-like worship of capitalism — had been on display for months. It has also been shown in other countries without incident.

The protests appear to have been sparked by visitors sharing photos of the exhibit on social media.

Christians make up a tiny percentage of Israel’s Arab minority and say they face unique challenges.

“We need to understand that freedom of expression is interpreted in different ways in different societies,” said Wadie Abu Nassar, an adviser to church leaders. “If this work was directed against non-Christians, the world would be turned upside down.”

Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev, who has been accused of censorship for pushing legislation mandating national “loyalty” in art, also called for the removal of the “disrespectful” artwork.

Museum’s response

The museum has refused to remove the artwork, saying that doing so would infringe on freedom of expression. But following the protests it hung a curtain over the entrance to the exhibit and posted a sign saying the art was not intended to offend.

“This is the maximum that we can do,” Tal said. “If we take the art down, the next day we’ll have politicians demanding we take other things down and we’ll end up only with colorful pictures of flowers in the museum.”

But that did little to placate those who want the artwork removed. A protester remained camped out in a tent at the museum Monday with a sign reading “Respect religions.” Police watched closely as local Christians complained to reporters in front of street signs spray-painted with crosses and windows still shattered from last week’s clashes.

“This is very offensive and I cannot consider this art,” Haifa artist and devout Christian Amir Ballan said. “We will continue through peaceful rallies and candle vigils. … We won’t be quiet until we reach a solution.”

Artist’s reaction

Jani Leinonen, the Finnish artist behind “McJesus,” has also asked that it be taken down — but for a different reason.

He says he supports Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, or BDS, a Palestinian-led movement aimed at pressuring Israel to change its policies toward the Palestinians. The group has made significant gains in recent years, persuading a number of foreign artists to cancel performances in Israel.

Tal said the museum won’t bow to religious or political pressure.

“We will be defending freedom of speech, freedom of art, and freedom of culture, and will not take it down,” he said.
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The Screen Actors Guild on Monday called on the film academy to stop trying to prevent stars from appearing on award shows before the Oscars.

In an unusually critical statement Monday, SAG-AFTRA said it has received multiple reports that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is pressuring actors to appear only at next month’s Academy Awards. Several award shows occur before that, including the guild’s own Screen Actors Guild Awards on January 27.

“This self-serving intimidation of SAG-AFTRA members is meant to limit their opportunities to be seen and honor the work of their fellow artists throughout the season. Actors should be free to accept any offer to participate in industry celebrations,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement. “The apparent attempt by the academy to keep our members from presenting on their own awards show is utterly outrageous and unacceptable.”

“We call on the academy to cease this inappropriate action,” it concluded.

Messages left with the academy were not immediately returned Monday.

Following Kevin Hart’s departure, the Academy Awards remain without a host. With less than six weeks to go before the February 24 broadcast, they appear likely to remain that way. To compensate, the film academy has apparently sought to populate the telecast with starry presenters. One reported gambit has been to unite the “Avengers” cast at the Oscars.

The open feud with SAG-AFTRA is only the latest headache for the film academy which is seeking to revamp this year’s Oscars telecast. It earlier scuttled plans for a new best popular film category after a backlash.
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For over 50 years, Oscar winning filmmaker and actor Clint Eastwood has portrayed tough characters — bounty hunters, police detectives and macho heart throbs. In his latest movie, The Mule, the octogenarian now softens his masculine persona to interpret a frail old man, whose financial hardship forces him to take up a job as a drug courier, a ‘mule,’ for a Mexican drug cartel. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.
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What do you do with a building that is past its prime or no longer being used? Many of them are torn down. But in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a century-old former theater received a new lease on life after it was converted into a bookstore. As we hear from VOA’s Deborah Block, the bookstore has become an unlikely tourist destination.
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Despite e-books and smartphones with reading apps, the book business in the U.S. is enjoying a resurgence. And though internet sales take their toll on bookstores around the country, one store in Portland, Oregon, seems to be operating as usual. Powell’s Books, founded by a family of Ukrainian descent more than 45 years ago, is as popular as ever. Iryna Matviichuk reports from Portland in this story narrated by Anna Rice.
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Each January, the city of Harbin in northern China becomes an icy wonderland as it hosts the largest ice and snow festival in the world. In Harbin, temperatures can drop as low as minus 35 degrees Celsius. The annual festival, in its 35th year, draws millions of visitors to activities like hockey, a photography contest and an ice and snow painting exhibition. VOAs Deborah Block tells us about the ice sculpting competition, which features fantastic carvings by artisans from around the world.
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Lin-Manuel Miranda reprised his lead role in the hit musical “Hamilton” Friday night to start a two-week run in Puerto Rico expected to raise thousands of dollars for artists and cultural groups struggling in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

The audience giggled, hooted, clapped and tapped their feet throughout the performance as Miranda took the stage for the first time since his last appearance in the Broadway version in July 2016, when he played the role of U.S. founding father Alexander Hamilton.

“I have never felt anything like that,” he said of the crowd’s energy, adding that singing the song “Hurricane” was a challenge.

“It was very hard to sing that here in Puerto Rico because you know better than I what it is to survive a hurricane. I feel like I’m going back to Maria a little bit every time I sing it,” he said.

​Diverting hurricane funds

After the two-hour show, Miranda spoke with reporters, who peppered him with questions about how the White House was exploring diverting money for border wall construction from a range of accounts, including using some of the $13.9 billion allocated to the Army Corps of Engineers after last year’s deadly hurricanes and floods.

“I think that’s absolutely monstrous,” Miranda said as he apologized that he didn’t have further comment. “It’s the first time I’m hearing that. I’ve been a little busy.”

It’s the first time in nine years that Miranda has performed in Puerto Rico. Opening night drew more than 1,000 people who bought tickets ranging from $10 to $5,000.

The crowd gave Miranda a standing ovation before the show even started, and during the curtain call he wiped away tears and wrapped himself in a large Puerto Rican flag as he briefly addressed the crowd in Spanish and English.

​Audience members transfixed

During the show’s intermission, accountant Zoraida Alvira sat absorbed as she read the three-page synopsis since she struggles a bit with English. It was the first time she had seen a musical and was transfixed.

“Here in Puerto Rico we are not too exposed to theater, let alone musicals,” she said as she praised the performance. “I didn’t move, and I’m a fidgety person.”

Alvira, like several other Puerto Ricans who attended opening night, snapped up her ticket thanks to a lottery launched by “Hamilton” organizers who are selling 275 tickets for every performance at $10 each.

Among those expected to attend the show in upcoming days are several federal lawmakers visiting the U.S. territory for the weekend to learn more about reconstruction efforts following Hurricane Maria, which caused more than $100 billion in damage when it hit Sept. 20, 2017.

Even people who didn’t have tickets showed up at the venue.

“This is a very important moment for Puerto Rico right now,” said Vivian Rodriguez, a student who lives in Puerto Rico but is from New York. She noted that Friday is Hamilton’s birthday, and she said Puerto Rico has suffered from what she described as its “colonial” status.

Change of venue

“Hamilton” was initially going to be staged at the University of Puerto Rico from Jan. 8 to 27, but producers announced in December that it was moving to the Centro de Bellas Artes following the threat of protests by university employees upset over enrollment changes at the island’s largest public university.

The change forced some people on the U.S. mainland to forgo their Hamilton tickets because they were unable or could not afford to change their airline tickets to accommodate the show’s new dates. Others were upset when they did not hear back from the agency responsible for reassigning new dates for previously purchased tickets.

“It has been such a nightmare for me,” said Myla Ruiz, who lives in the northern coastal town of Toa Baja and had gotten tickets for the original opening night.

Her husband is now unable to go because he will be on a work trip, and then she struggled to get a response from the agency selling the tickets. She is now reluctantly attending the show’s last night.

“I’m originally from New York, so I’m a huge fan of Broadway,” she said. “This to me is huge. There’s nothing like Broadway here. When they said this was coming, it’s all I’ve been talking about.”

The show also drew the attention of Jimmy Fallon, whose “Tonight Show” will air its Jan. 15 episode from Puerto Rico with Miranda and the new touring cast.

Miranda, composer and creator of “Hamilton,” won a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize for the musical.
…

NBC News announced its professional divorce agreement with Megyn Kelly late Friday, ending an association with the former Fox News Channel star whose attempt to become a network morning television star as part of the “Today” show floundered.

Terms were not disclosed. Kelly was in the second of a three-year contract that reportedly paid her more than $20 million a year.

She’s been off the air since October after creating a furor by suggesting that it was OK for white people to wear blackface on Halloween, and exit negotiations had dragged for two months over the holidays. Even before the controversial commentary, her future was considered limited at NBC News.

“The parties have resolved their differences, and Megyn Kelly is no longer an employee of NBC,” the network said in a statement Friday night.

NBC says she’ll be replaced in the third hour of the “Today” show by anchors Craig Melvin, Al Roker, Dylan Dreyer and Sheinelle Jones.

Her tenure was also a failure for NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack, who lured her from Fox News Channel with the type of big-money contract that was once standard in television news but now is less so with financial constrictions and less viewership.

#MeToo media leader

In a sense, Kelly was caught in a no-woman’s land: some at NBC were suspicious of her because of the Fox News background, while her former audience at Fox resented her for tough questioning of Donald Trump on the presidential campaign trail.

While at Fox, her accusations of unwanted sexual advances by the network’s late chief executive, Roger Ailes, helped lead to his firing.

She made news at NBC when interviewing women who accused Trump of inappropriate behavior and spoke with accusers of Harvey Weinstein, Bill O’Reilly, Roy Moore and others, as well as women who say they were harassed on Capitol Hill. The episode with Trump accusers had more than 2.9 million viewers, one of her biggest audiences on the network.

Time magazine, which honored “The Silence Breakers” as its Person of the Year in 2017, cited Kelly as the group’s leader in the entertainment field.

But tough segments on accusations against former NBC anchor Matt Lauer didn’t win her friends internally, as did her public call for Lack to appoint outside investigators to look into why the network didn’t air Ronan Farrow’s stories about Harvey Weinstein and allowed Farrow to take his story to The New Yorker.

Unclear what’s next

When those stories began to fade, Kelly had trouble attracting an audience in the soft-focus world of morning television. She also briefly hosted an evening newsmagazine that didn’t catch on with viewers.

It’s not immediately clear what’s next for Kelly. NBC would not comment Friday on whether the separation agreement allows her to write about her experiences at the network.

There’s no non-compete clause, meaning Kelly is free to seek other television work if she wants to.
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Victoria Graham is a beauty queen. But what is truly extraordinary about this pageant winner are her efforts to overcome a severe genetic condition so that she could use her title wins to highlight her illness. Anush Avetisyan reports from Manchester, Maryland.
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Lady Gaga is sorry for her 2013 duet with R. Kelly in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against the singer, and she intends to remove the song from streaming services.

Posting on Twitter Wednesday, Gaga wrote she had collaborated with Kelly on “Do What U Want (With My Body)” during a “dark time” in her life as a victim of sexual assault. She said she should have sought therapy or other help instead.

Gaga said she will not work with Kelly again.

Gaga wrote she’s sorry for her “poor judgment” when she was young and “for not speaking out sooner.”

Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly” series, which aired this month, looks at the singer’s history and allegations that he has sexually abused women and girls. Kelly has denied wrongdoing.

 
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A federal judge has reportedly dismissed part of Ashley Judd’s lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein.

Judge Philip S. Gutierrez of United States District Court in Los Angeles ruled Wednesday that the actress’ sexual harassment claim does not fall within the scope of a California statute. But he said Judd may proceed to trial with separate allegations against Weinstein of defamation and economic interference, according to reports in the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.

Judd says that after she rejected Weinstein’s sexual advances two decades ago, he defamed her to “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson, hurting her career.

Weinstein, 66, also faces criminal prosecution in New York City and is the target of other criminal investigations.

The former movie mogul has denied engaging in nonconsensual sexual activity.

 
…

A documentary film about two boys who accused Michael Jackson of sexual abuse is set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this month.  

  

The Sundance Institute announced the addition of Leaving Neverland and The Brink, a documentary about Steve Bannon, to its 2019 lineup on Wednesday.  

  

A description of Leaving Neverland says it will tell the story of two men who are now in their 30s and began long-running relationships with Jackson at ages 7 and 10 when Jackson was at the height of his fame. The names of the Jackson accusers profiled in the documentary were not released. Jackson was acquitted of molestation charges in 2005. 

 

The film is produced and directed by BAFTA-winning director Dan Reed. 

 

The Sundance Film Festival kicks off Jan. 24 and runs through Feb. 4.
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Did she win a Nobel Prize? Was she an inventor? Did she make a discovery? 

 

These are some of the questions that Polish designer Zuzanna Kozerska-Girard wants more children to ask as they learn about famous women while playing her debut board game Who’s She? 

 

“We basically don’t know their stories. We don’t know enough about women who have done amazing stuff,” Kozerska-Girard, founder of game company Playeress, said in a Skype interview. 

 

Similar to the classic game Guess Who?, two players are each given a biography card of a famous woman and must ask each other questions until her identity is answered correctly — be it French spy Josephine Baker or Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai. 

 

“The game is for girls as much as it is for boys. They need to see powerful women around them and see them as their heroes,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Poland. 

More recognition

 

The game is being sold at a time when the achievements of women — scientists, politicians, campaigners and artists — are increasingly being recognized online and in public spaces. 

 

Kozerska said she designed the game, which costs 75 euros ($86), because she wanted children to know that women of all nationalities were as capable as men in any profession. 

 

“If you’re a girl who’s 3 years old and you see men everywhere in positions with more power, you’ll just think that that’s the way it is,” said Kozerska-Girard. “I think it’s important to bring this [gender gap] up with kids — and the simple way to do this is by playing games.” 

 

Since Who’s She? launched in November on crowdfunding site Kickstarter, Kozerska-Girard has sold more than 6,000 units and received 500,000 euros to produce the game, which she makes by hand out of wood. 

Wikipedia gap

 

Volunteers are working to raise the profile of famous women — who make up only 17 percent of Wikipedia’s 1.5 million biographies, according to the Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts the online encyclopedia — by writing more female biographies. 

 

In Britain, a statue of 19th-century feminist Millicent Fawcett was unveiled last April in London’s Parliament Square, the first monument to honor a woman in a space previously occupied by 11 statues of men. 

 

The statue was the result of a campaign by feminist Caroline Criado-Perez, who said there were more statues in Britain of men called John than statues of women. Excluding Queen Victoria, less than 3 percent of statues represented women, she said.

In August, a group of Belgian activists stuck up unofficial street names in the capital, Brussels, to commemorate women and also pushed for new public spaces to reflect their role — a phenomenon also seen in the Netherlands.
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The discovery of semi-precious gems in the teeth of a 1,000-year-old female skeleton proved women were more widely involved in creating medieval manuscripts than previously thought, a group of international historians said on Wednesday.

A study by German-based Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and Britain’s University of York found traces of lapis lazuli – which was used as a blue pigment in painting – in the dental plaque of a woman buried between 1000-1200 AD.

The skeleton was unearthed in a cemetery associated with a women’s monastery in Dalheim in western Germany.

The researchers said this challenged long-held beliefs that women had played little role in the European Middle Ages in producing literary and written texts which came largely from religious institutions.

Researcher Christina Warinner from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History said this finding from the 11th century was unprecedented in showing more women were literate, educated and encouraged to read at that time.

“I am excited that our study shows that the use of archaeology might have the tools to recover some of the lost information (about women in the past),” Warinner told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

“We have this view there was only a handful of extraordinary women in the past that seemed to be different from everyone else but I think that more were involved than we give credit for.”

The team studying the skeleton concluded that the woman, who was aged 45-60, must have been a painter who frequently licked the end of the brush whilst painting.

Warinner said the woman was thought to be part of a group of about 14 women living at the monastery who were likely to have been wealthy, upper class, and educated.

“Here we have direct evidence of a woman, not just painting, but painting with a very rare and expensive pigment,” she said.

“This woman’s story could have remained hidden forever without the use of these techniques. It makes me wonder how many other artists we might find in medieval cemeteries – if we only look.”
…

Saxophonist Tia Fuller was crying in bed. And praising God.

 

She’d just received the news that she was nominated for her first-ever Grammy Award — but it’s not just any nomination: Her inclusion in the best jazz instrumental album category is a historic moment for women because they have rarely been nominated for the coveted award throughout the Grammys’ 61-year history.

 

And if Fuller wins, she becomes just the second women to take home the prize.

 

“I feel really blessed. Anytime I think extensively about being in the category and (anything) Grammy-wise, I start tearing up,” said Fuller, this time smiling ear-to-ear with light tears of joy in her eyes. “It’s really a dream come true. I’m realizing that dreams can become reality and everything is tangible.”

 

Her nominated album, “Diamond Cut,” is a smooth and striking collection that has brought the skilled performer, who once played with Ray Charles during her college years and toured with Beyonce, to the next level. The album, her fifth, was produced by another woman making critical waves in jazz, Terri Lyne Carrington. The drummer, who came to national prominence decades ago in “The Arsenio Hall Show” band, became the first female to win best jazz instrumental album at the 2014 Grammys.

 

Carrington describes the win as bittersweet because of the “many great female instrumentalists that weren’t nominated ever, so that was really disheartening.”

 

“It just shows that there’s a lot of work to do when it comes to gender equity in jazz and the music industry in general,” she added.

 

It’s one of the reasons Carrington, a three-time Grammy winner, is excited for Fuller’s success and has been a mentor to the artist.

 

“I feel like this record is showing her growth and her evolution,” Carrington said. “If nothing else, I believe that she’s really motivated to keep pushing herself and keep evolving into all that she can be.”

 

“Diamond Cut” is Fuller’s first album in six years. She’s been busy as a professor at the prestigious Berklee College of Music since 2013, and that decision to move to Boston to fulfill a lifetime dream came at a crossroads: In the same 24-hour period that Fuller was offered the teaching position, Beyonce asked Fuller to perform again with the band.

 

“That was the year I think they were doing the Super Bowl and she was going back out on tour,” recalled Fuller, who performed with Beyonce from 2006 to 2010.

 

“While I was on tour with her something came over me and spoke, ‘You have to move in faith and not fear. Don’t be afraid of what may not happen, or get attached to the artificial result of, ‘I’m playing with Beyonce,'” she said. “So the reason why that I ended up not going back is because I realized that it was time for me to move on.”

 

Fuller’s decision was very Beyonce-like: “She’s always pressing forward. Always growing. Always evolving. …I sat back and I just watched how she would never take ‘no’ for an answer. She would always find a ‘yes.’ And that’s something that now, I’ve incorporated into me being a leader, a band leader, a businesswoman, a professor at Berklee, all of that.”

 

The 42-year-old, who was born and raised in Aurora, Colorado, has followed in the footsteps of her parents, who are also musicians and educators. Fuller first started playing the piano at three, then moved on to the flute. But once her grandfather handed her a saxophone, she was hooked.

 

“I was in the upper level of my parent’s house, like the loft. I just remember how it reverberated throughout the house. I was like, ‘Oh this is way better than flute, I can be loud.'”

 

Fuller has making noise ever since, and doesn’t plan on slowing down. She wants to be a voice for women in jazz, especially instrumentalists, who don’t get as much as credit as the men.

 

“I’m representative of all of these women out here that are grinding. Terri (Lyne Carrington) served as that for me prior to me even knowing who she was. Seeing her on Arsenio Hall’s show, and then of course hearing her name on the scene, watching her on different TV shows. That was an unspoken, internal narrative that spoke to me, ‘She’s doing it, you can do it,'” she said. “For me, I don’t think it’s necessarily a historical thing, but hopefully I’m a beacon of light for not only other women, but men, too. And also changing this inadvertent narrative, the male, patriarchal perspective in the jazz world, actually in the musical world. (Women) have always had just as much influence over the music.”

 

Her career — and success — has not come without challenges: “I’ve dealt with sexism, inadvertent sexism, sometimes racism — sometimes a combination of both.”

 

She recalls coming to New York in the early 2000s to build buzz as a performer, going from jazz club to jazz club to share her music and sound with listeners. “There was a long line of people, of course I’m the only woman up there, so I go onstage and I’m about to play and somebody just cuts me off and starts playing. That was like my first year. That was the first and last time that happened.”

 

She’s also faced people assuming she’s dating a successful musician to justify her seat at the table, or “even club owners trying to hit on you, not taking you as serious.”

 

But Fuller has preserved, and she’s using her role as a teacher to help change the narrative in jazz, and in music.

 

“I was directing a band full of young men. I’m like, ‘What is your job and what is your role in this whole thing?’ You can’t just sit back passively,” she said. “Accountability to me is key for not only women to hold men accountable, but for men to hold their brothers accountable.”

 

In 2017, along with Carrington and 12 other female artists, Fuller developed We Have Voice, a collective that has created a code of conduct that performing arts venues, jazz festivals, schools and others have adopted. The goal, she said, is “to bring the level of consciousness up.”

 

“I think slowly but surely we’re doing the work and there is some shift happening,” she said. “I especially see it with my students and the younger generation. That’s something that’s near and dear to my heart. I’m seeing the pain, psychological, physical, emotional pain that it’s caused with women and sometimes men, too.”

 

And in between the teaching and playing — she’s also busy dress shopping for her big day at the Grammys, taking place Feb. 10 in Los Angeles.

 

“I actually reached out to one of Beyonce’s stylists and he responded, so he’s going to help and connect me with some of his designers,” she said. “I’m trying to find a healthy mix between making a statement and me being me.”
…

One of America’s sweethearts hands the torch to another when Tom Hanks presents Alan Alda with a lifetime achievement award at the upcoming Screen Actors Guild Award ceremony.

The 82-year-old Alda, a Golden Globe- and Emmy-winner, will become the 55th recipient of the annual award given to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession.” Hanks will hand it to him in a Jan. 27 ceremony.

“I’m so thrilled that Tom agreed to that. I had no idea they were even asking him. And it’s so generous of him,” Alda told The Associated Press.

Alda and Hanks worked together on the film Bridge of Spies, and Alda said they “have run into each other casually over the years at awards ceremonies and on airplanes and things like that. So, I remember him when he was just a kid.”

Throughout a career that has spanned seven decades, Alda has appeared in The West Wing, The Aviator and Manhattan Murder Mystery, but is perhaps best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the television series M*A*S*H. Alda has won six Emmy Awards and was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2004 for his role in The Aviator.

Alda has also been involved in numerous charities and organizations that have supported children’s causes, women’s issues and the sciences. The latter inspired the formation of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University in New York.

That combined with his affable personality has earned Alda his “nice guy” reputation over the years. He jokes that the “niceness” compensates for a profession that is not always viewed kindly.

“It’s a counterbalance, I guess, to the rowdy reputation that a lot of actors have had over the last couple of hundred years, including the guy who shot Lincoln. So it’s good to balance the reputations of the acting profession,” Alda said.
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